On Golf: For Different Reasons, Phil Mickelson and Jordan Spieth Practice Patience

Jordan Spieth, left, and Phil Mickelson played a practice round together on Tuesday ahead of the 2016 P.G.A. Championship at Baltusrol Golf Club.Credit
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SPRINGFIELD, N.J. — Jordan Spieth continues to tell people he is not in a slump. Phil Mickelson must once again expound on the heartbreak of another second-place finish in a major championship.

Perhaps that is why Spieth and Mickelson played a practice round together on Tuesday, preparing for the 2016 P.G.A. Championship. Separated by 24 years in age, for a day they might have been the salve to each other’s burdens, real or invented.

Not that either needs too much help defending, or explaining, himself.

When asked if he had any regrets about his loss to Henrik Stenson in the final round at this year’s British Open, a duel that ended with Stenson posting a record score, Mickelson quipped: “I don’t look back at anything I would have done different other than maybe going over to Stenson’s bag to bend his putter a little bit.”